1. General Principles

The Aegean Journal of Medical Sciences (Ege Tıp Bilimleri Dergisi) adopts the international publishing principles set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
The journal also publishes in accordance with the ethical and publishing principles of the DergiPark system, under the umbrella of TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM.

2. Human and Animal Rights

For all research involving human subjects, ethics committee approval and a declaration that the study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 revision) are mandatory.
For animal experiments, authors must demonstrate compliance with the “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” and submit animal ethics committee approval.
The ethics committee approval certificate must be uploaded to the DergiPark system along with the manuscript submission.
Ethical approval, informed consent, and compliance with guidelines must be explicitly stated in the Materials and Methods section.
If data that could reveal the identity of subjects is used, written informed consent must be obtained from the patients. For individuals under the age of 18, consent from a parent or legal guardian is required.

a ) Failure to Obtain Informed Consent

Including individuals in a study without adequately informing them about the purpose, methodology, procedures to be applied, and potential risks of the research is against ethical principles. Using or publishing data obtained without the explicit consent of the participants is considered a scientific ethical violation. If the research is conducted at an institution, obtaining the necessary permissions from the relevant institution is also mandatory.

3. Plagiarism and Publication Ethics Violations

All manuscripts are screened using iThenticate similarity software. The similarity rate must not exceed 20%.
In accordance with the principle of transparency, authors are obliged to provide the raw data sets used in the manuscript upon the request of the Editorial Board.
Acts such as plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, salami slicing, gift authorship, or ghost authorship are considered ethical violations.
The Editor or Editorial Board has the right to reject, request corrections for, or perform formal editing on manuscripts that do not comply with ethical standards. Requesting an author to correct an ethical violation does not guarantee that the manuscript will be published.
Corrections requested from authors must be completed within 30 days. Otherwise, the submission will be considered a new application.

a) Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the partial or complete use of others' ideas, data, methods, texts, or works without proper attribution or citation, presenting them as one's own. In academic studies, it is essential to clearly indicate quotations and correctly cite the sources utilized. Using others' original thoughts and works without attribution is considered a violation of the principle of academic integrity and may lead to serious sanctions.

4. Declarations and Conflicts of Interest

All sources of financial support and potential conflicts of interest must be clearly declared. Authors must complete the ICMJE Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form.
Authors should avoid entering into sponsorship agreements that may restrict their ability to access all study data or to analyze, interpret, and publish the manuscript.
Potential conflicts of interest among editors, authors, and reviewers are evaluated within the framework of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.
Editors who make final decisions on manuscripts must not have personal, professional, or financial ties to the manuscripts they are evaluating. Any editor, reviewer, or author with a conflict of interest is excluded from the manuscript evaluation process.

5. Authorship and Contribution Declaration

Authorship is based on the ICMJE criteria (JAMA 1997;277:927–934). Every author must:
1. Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
2. Draft the work or revise it critically for important intellectual content;
3. Read and approve the final version to be published.
All three of these conditions must be met. Manuscripts must be submitted for evaluation only after receiving written approval from all contributing authors.
The cover letter accompanying the manuscript submission must confirm that all authors have met these three criteria. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgments section.

a) Unfair Authorship

Unfair authorship refers to the inclusion of individuals who have not made a genuine and significant contribution to a scientific study in the author list, or the exclusion of those who have contributed from being listed as authors. Additionally, unjustified changes to the order of authors, removing the names of contributors from subsequent editions, or obtaining authorship through academic influence are also evaluated within this scope.

b) Guest (Gift) Authorship

Guest authorship is the listing of an individual as an author despite them not having made a sufficient contribution to stages such as the study's design, data collection and analysis processes, writing of the manuscript, or its preparation for publication. According to academic ethical principles, authorship should only apply to those who have made a scientific and direct contribution to the work.

6. Editors’ Authorship and Editorial Independence

Editors may only submit their own manuscripts to the journal as editorial articles. Section Editors may submit manuscripts, but these articles are evaluated through a double-blind peer-review process, and the editor has no involvement in the process management.
The journal management, publisher, or the institution that owns the journal may not make suggestions to the editors regarding manuscripts submitted to the Aegean Journal of Medical Sciences and/or exert pressure on editorial decisions. Editorial independence is essential.

7. Language Use

The journal adopts the use of inclusive, non-discriminatory, and impartial language. Language that discriminates based on gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, or belief must not be used.

8. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools cannot be listed as an author.
If authors used AI tools (in text, image generation, or analysis), they must transparently declare this in both the Methods section and the cover letter.
Suggested wording:
“During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [Tool Name, e.g., ChatGPT, OpenAI] for [specified purpose]. The authors have reviewed and approved the content and take full responsibility for the publication.”
Non-transparent use of AI is considered an ethical violation.

9. Advertising Policy and Publisher

The Aegean Journal of Medical Sciences is the periodic, peer-reviewed, open-access, official scientific publication of the Uşak Surgical Association.
The journal operates independently of all commercial advertising and sponsorship. All editorial decisions are based solely on scientific merit and academic quality. The journal operates in accordance with the financial and publishing policies of the Uşak Surgical Association, while maintaining its editorial independence.

10. Appeals and Complaints Process

Appeals and complaints are evaluated by the Editorial Board according to COPE guidelines. Appeals must primarily be based on the scientific content of the manuscript or concrete errors in the review process.
The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on appeals. In necessary cases (unresolved disputes), an independent ethics editor or mediator may be appointed.
Authors should send their requests to egetipbilimleridergisi@gmail.com.

11. Handling Unethical Conduct

In cases of scientific fraud, plagiarism, or misconduct, the Publisher, in collaboration with the Editorial Board, will publish a corrigendum, expression of concern, or retraction. Such violations are not tolerated under any circumstances.

a) Duplicate Publication

Publishing the same research results or the same article in more than one journal or publication medium is considered duplicate publication. Additionally, republishing the same study with minor changes or presenting it as a different publication in academic evaluations is also considered an ethical violation.

b) Slicing / Fragmenting Publications

Dividing the results of a study into parts in a way that undermines its scientific integrity and turning them into multiple publications is referred to as slicing. Such practices, carried out with the aim of increasing the number of publications, are not acceptable in terms of academic ethics.

12. Errors in Published Works

If authors discover a significant error in their published work, they must immediately inform the journal and cooperate in its correction.
If editors or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a material error, the authors must promptly correct the article, provide grounds for its retraction, or provide the journal editors with proof of the article’s accuracy.

13. Digital Archiving and Preservation

All content is stored on primary and backup servers. In the event of potential data loss, archive access is ensured through national and international third-party systems.
The journal ensures long-term preservation through indexing services and open-access archives such as LOCKSS and PKP PN.
In the event of the journal’s cessation of publication, authors may contact egetipbilimleridergisi@gmail.com to access the existing archive.

14. Authors’ Archiving Policy

Authors may freely share the abstract and citation information of their articles.
Open-access articles may be shared on any platform immediately after publication; however, a backlink to the original publication on the Aegean Journal of Medical Sciences website must be provided.
 

15. Violation of the Principle of Confidentiality

Protecting the confidentiality of personal or institutional information obtained from participants during the research process is one of the fundamental ethical principles. Sharing participant data without permission or failing to keep their identity information confidential is considered a violation of the principle of confidentiality.